Over the past several years scientists have consistently shown that formal musical training, such as learning to play an instrument, can improve cognitive performance. At the behavioural level, music expertise or training improves performance in other cognitive domains such as language, attention, intelligence and motor skills. These positive transfers are explained by findings which show that music training modifies brain areas related to the cognitive skills cited above, especially in those regions responsible for language, namely, planum temporale, Heschl's gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus.
Previous work has identified several factors that may be responsible for reading and language difficulties in children with low intelligence (LI). Various temporal and pitch auditory-processing deficits have been implicated. Impaired pitch processing within natural speech may contribute to deficient phonological representations in LI children that may, in turn, lead to a deficit in reading skills. It has been demonstrated that audio-visual training (computerized) improved the level of performance of LI children, and normalized their pattern of brain waves. A landmark study by Dr. Overy at the Massachusetts General Hospital tested a musical remediation program with LI children that suggested a positive effect of musical training on both phonologic and spelling skills. This further supports the rehabilitative potential of music training. In 2008 Forgeard et al at Harvard University conducted a longitudinal study with normal-reading children and a pilot study with LI children. Their results indicated a strong association between musical discrimination abilities and language-related skills. In children with LI, musical discrimination predicted phonological skills, which in turn predicted reading ability. Taken together, these findings suggest that music intervention that strengthens the basic skills for auditory perception in children with language impairments may also remediate some of their language deficits.
Brain imaging techniques show which brain areas of the brain are influenced by music stimuli. Using structural MRI to examine brain structure, many scientific studies have shown anatomical differences between the brains of musicians and non-musicians. For example, a study by Schlaug et al. (1995b) showed a link between musical expertise and the brain. The study questioned whether the midsagital area of the corpus callosum, which is involved in the coordination of movement, is influenced by musical expertise (in this case, in keyboard or string instrument players). Results showed a significantly larger anterior half of the corpus callosum in musicians than in non-musicians. From this finding, Schlaug et al. (1995b) concluded that early and intensive training in keyboard and string players may facilitate increased and faster communication between the brain's hemispheres in order to perform complex bi-manual movements. Several further studies have also demonstrated structural differences between musicians and non-musicians' brains, finding significant differences in the planum temporale (related to verbal memory processing and absolute pitch), the posterior band of the precentral gyms (related to motor processing), the corpus callosum (related to cross-hemisphere communication), the anterior-medial part of the Heschl gyms (related to auditory processing), the inferior frontal gyrus (related to executive functions such as attention and language), the inferior lateral temporal lobe (related to auditory processing) and parts of the cerebellum (related to motor processing). All the brain areas cited above are involved in behavioural skills related to music processing.